My friend Molly flew in from England last Thursday, and after letting her recover from the trip on Friday, Josh and I dragged her out of bed bright and early on Saturday morning, fed her some waffles, and hauled her off to our favorite swamp.

In the first part of our journey, we encountered some bird friends. We were rather envious of them as they splashed around in the water. At 9am, it was starting to heat up, and the humidity really made things unbearable. (Usually it takes a lot for me to overheat, but Molly thrives in cold weather. I knew if I was hot, she must be miserable.)

Next, we enjoyed some lovely scenery as we walked down a long path with no shade until we came to a fork in the trail and took no time at all to decide that we’d turn down the path that was fully shaded. That definitely made our trek a little more enjoyable, but it was still incredibly hot.

We scoured the murky waters of the stream next to us for signs of reptilian life until finally a gator moved in the distance. The only gator we saw (and smelled) up close was a corpse that had washed up. Judging by the smell, it had been dead for quite some time. We held our breath as we took photos, and then we rushed onward to get some fresh air.

Eventually, the stream led into a lake, which offered more lovely views.

Finally, after almost an hour of being drenched in sweat, we were in the home stretch of the trail loop that took us back to the car.

It was good to be immersed in nature after being away from Circle B for several months, but I don’t think I’ll be visiting again until later this fall when the weather starts to cool off a little.

I still whole-heartedly recommend putting Circle B on your central Florida itinerary; just know that if you’re visiting in summer, you’re best going around sunrise time to avoid the worst of the heat. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but summertime in Florida is HOT!